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On March 26th, 1923, in a formal ceremony, construction of the Milan?Alpine Lakes autostrada officially began, the preliminary step toward what would become the first European motorway. That Benito Mussolini himself participated in the festivities indicates just how important the project was to Italian Fascism. This book recounts the twisting fortunes of the autostrada, which?alongside railways, aviation, and other forms of mobility?Italian authorities hoped would spread an ideology of technological nationalism. It explains how Italy ultimately failed to realize its mammoth infrastructural vision, addressing the political and social conditions that made a coherent plan of development impossible.Read more...

Acknowledgments List of Figures and Tables List of Acronyms Introduction Chapter 1. The Roads before the Motorways Chapter 2. 1922: The Motorway from Milan to the Prealpine Lakes Chapter 3. Motorway Mania in Italy in the 1920s Chapter 4. The Ordinary Roads Problem Chapter 5. From the Pedemontana Project to the Construction Suspension Chapter 6. A Case Study: The Turin-Milan Motorway Chapter 7. The 1930s: The European Utopia and the Nationalist Fulfillment Chapter 8. The Bankruptcy and Legacy of the Motorways Conclusion Bibliography Index

Abstract:

Driving Modernity recounts the history of the first Italian motorway, which-alongside railways and aviation-Italian authorities hoped would spread an ideology of technological nationalism.Read more...

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

"Based on prodigious archival research, Driving Modernity explores how the Italian autostrada project grew out of a somewhat fantastic idea by a coterie of Milan businessmen into an internationally recognized technological icon of Fascist Italy. This book speaks clearly and convincingly about the political values embedded in infrastructures." * Thomas Zeller, University of Maryland, College Park "Moraglio's work is a deep dive into a grandiose and distinctively modern project in interwar Italy. Never before has the complex ideological character of these motorways been so clearly analyzed, from the moment of their conception to the widespread adoption of the automobile." * Mathieu Flonneau, Universite Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne, LabEx EHNERead more...